Dubuque neighborhood cooking for a cure

Posted:
Tuesday, December 21, 2010 11:15 PM EST

DUBUQUE (KWWL)-- It's the time of year, many of us find ourselves in the kitchen, baking holiday treats but for one group in Dubuque, holiday baking is going above and beyond. They are measuring out more than ingredients, all to help find a cure for cancer.

"When I walk into my kitchen today I am not alone," Sharon Kuttler said as she read a poem. "Whether we know it or not. None of us is,"she said.

Kuttler and Marilyn Bentley are used to cooking, especially during the holidays.

"We mixed together three large eggs. A third cup of unsalted butter that's been melted. A half cup each of dark corn syrup and light corn syrup. 3 important table spoons of bourbon," Kuttler said.

On Tuesday, they're making bourbon pecan tarts, courtesy Starview's Cuisine for the Cause. It's a cookbook featuring some of the best recipes on Starview Drive.

"It's the kind of cookbook that has a lot of heart and soul," Kuttler said.

Heart and soul that all began in 2005, the year Bentley was diagnosed with breast cancer.

"And had a lumpectomy, chemo and radiation and lasted for four years," Bentley said.

During that time, Bentley and her family started a team for the Susan G. Komen walk.

"It's a 60 mile walk over the course of three days," Bentley said.

She raised money by auctioning off baked goods at her neighborhoods annual meeting, raising just $400 the first year. But neighbors wanted to add more.

"We were at one of those annual meetings of the neighborhood where someone innocently said 'you know, someone should write these down, these are good recipes' and that's where it all started," Bentley said.

Klutter and Bentley gathered recipes from all their neighbors and compiled a book. Printing 200 copies, hoping to sell as many as possible to help Bentley's team. "And before those 200 were even off the press we needed to print more," Kuttler said.

The requests keep coming. Already, they've sold 800 copies and raised more than $2500 dollars. It adds up to a grand total of $60,000 over 5 years.

"We are just very grateful. Not only are we amazed but we are very grateful for the support," Kuttler said.

It's that support that continues to pour in, even when last year, doctors told Bentley that her cancer was back. She'll be on chemo the rest of her life.

"Food is never just food. It is always a way at getting at something else," Kuttler said.

Something else, that for now is giving hope, that someday, someone will find the right ingredients for a cure.

You can find the Starview Cookbook at River Lights Books in Dubuque and Family Beer and Liquor in East Dubuque. The cost is $15, all proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen foundation.